It was narrated from Ibn ‘Abbas that the Messenger of Allah (ﷺ) said:

“There are three whose prayer do not rise more than a hand span above their heads: A man who leads people (in prayer) when they do not like him; a woman who has spent the night with her husband angry with her; and two brothers who have severed contact with one another.”

It was narrated that Ibn ‘Abbas said:

“I stayed overnight with my maternal aunt Maimunah, and the Prophet (ﷺ) got up during the night to perform prayer. So I got up and stood on his left. He took me by the hand and made me stand on his right.”

It was narrated that Anas said:

“The Messenger of Allah (ﷺ) led a woman of his household and myself in prayer. I stood to his right and the woman stood behind us.”

It was narrated that Abu Mas’ud Al-Ansari said:

“The Messenger of Allah (ﷺ) used to gently pat our shoulders (to make sure the row was straight) at the time of prayer, saying: ‘Keep (the rows) straight, do not differ from one another lest your hearts should suffer from discord. Let those who are forbearing and wise stand closest to me, then those who are next to them, then those who are next to them.’”

It was narrated that Malik bin Huwairith said:

“I came to the Prophet (ﷺ) with a friend of mine, and when we wanted to leave, he said to us: ‘When the time for prayer comes, say the Adhan and Iqamah, then let the older of you lead the prayer.’”

Abu Hazim said:

“Sahl bin Sa’d As-Sa’idi used to give preference to the young to lead his people in prayer. It was said to him: “Do you do that, when you have such seniority (in Islam)?” He said: “I heard the Messenger of Allah (ﷺ) say: ‘The Imam is responsible. If he does well, then he will have the reward and so …

It was narrated that Salamah bint Hurr, the sister of Kharashah, said:

“I heard the Prophet (ﷺ) say: ‘A time will come when the people will stand for a long time and will not be able to find any Imam to lead them in prayer.”

It was narrated from Abu ‘Ali Al-Hamdani that he went out in a ship in which ‘Uqbah bin ‘Amir Al-Juhani was present. The time for prayer came, and we told him to lead us in prayer and said to him:

“You are the most deserving of that, you were the Companion of the Messenger of Allah (ﷺ).” But he refused and said: “I heard the Messenger of Allah (ﷺ) say: ‘Whoever leads the people and gets it right, the prayer will be for him and for them, but if he falls short, then that will be counted against…

It was narrated that Abu Mas’ud said:

“A man came to the Prophet (ﷺ) and said: ‘O Messenger of Allah! I stay behind and do not perform the morning prayer (in congregation) because of so-and-so, for he makes it too long for us.’ I never saw the Messenger of Allah (ﷺ) preaching with such anger as he did that day. He said; ‘O people! There…

It was narrated that Anas bin Malik said:

“The Messenger of Allah (ﷺ) used to make his prayer brief but perfect.”

It was narrated that Jabir said:

“Mu’adh bin Jabal Al-Ansari led his companions in the ‘Isha’ prayer and he made it long. A man among us went away and prayed by himself. Mu’adh was told about that and he said: ‘He is a hypocrite.’ When the man heard about that, he went to the Messenger of Allah (ﷺ) and told him what Mu’adh had said…

It was narrated that Mutarrif bin ‘Abdullah bin Shikhkhir said:

“I heard ‘Uthman bin Abul-‘As say: “The last thing that the Prophet (ﷺ) enjoined on me when he appointed me governor of Ta’if was that he said: “O ‘Uthman! Be tolerable in prayer and estimate the people based upon the weakest among them, for among them are the elderly, the young, the sick, those who…

It was narrated that Anas bin Malik said:

“The Messenger of Allah (ﷺ) said: ‘I start prayer and I want to make it long, but then I hear an infant crying, so I make my prayer short, because I know the distress caused to the mother by his crying.’”

It was narrated that ‘Uthman bin Abul-‘As said:

“The Messenger of Allah (ﷺ) said: ‘I hear an infant crying so I make the prayer short.’”

It was narrated from ‘Abdullah bin Abu Qatadah that his father said:

“The Messenger of Allah (ﷺ) said: ‘I get up to perform prayer and I intend to make it long, but then I hear an infant crying, so I make it short, because I do not like to cause distress to his mother.’”

It was narrated that Anas bin Malik said:

“The Messenger of Allah (ﷺ) said: ‘Make your rows straight, for straightening the rows is part of completing the prayer.’”

‘Abdur-Rahman bin ‘Ali bin Shaiban narrated that his father, ‘Ali bin Shaiban, who was part of the delegation, said:

“We set out until we came to the Prophet (ﷺ). We gave him our oath of allegiance and performed prayer behind him. Then we offered another prayer behind him. He finished the prayer and saw a man on his own, praying behind the row.” He said: “The Prophet of Allah (ﷺ) stood beside him and when he finis…

It was narrated that Hilal bin Yasaf said:

“Ziyad bin Abu-Ja’d took me by the hand and made me stand near an old man at Raqqah, whose name was Wabisah bin Ma’bad. He said: ‘A man performed prayer behind the row on his own, and the Prophet (ﷺ) commanded him to repeat the prayer.’”

It was narrated that Bara’ said:

“When we performed prayer behind the Messenger of Allah (ﷺ) (One of the narrators) Mis’ar said: ‘One of the things we liked, or one of the things I liked’ ‘was to stand to his right.’”

It was narrated that Jabir said:

“When the Messenger of Allah (ﷺ) finished Tawaf around the House (the Ka’bah), he came to Maqam of Ibrahim (the Station of Ibrahim). ‘Umar said: ‘O Messenger of Allah, this is the Station of our father Ibrahim about which Allah said: “And take you (people) the Maqam of Ibrahim as a place of prayer.’…